Civility and Civil Discourse

Next week is the American Bar Association’s “Mediation Week” and the theme this year is Civility and Civil Discourse, reflecting the adoption of Resolution 108 in August. Many of the skills we have talked about on this blog are skills used by mediators to resolve disputes. Skills like reflective listening, using open-ended questions, and sharing new information without debating can be used by citizens to promote more civil discourse. We will be sponsoring a set of 5 video interviews and will post the links on this blog. We hope you watch and share your thoughts. If enough of us act to promote civil discourse, we can help to heal our political systems and improve our country’s problem solving capacity.